Increased efforts of countries and global partners in fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria have saved, extended and improved the lives of many. However, many needs for prevention, treatment and care remain unmet. With regard to HIV/AIDS, for example, it is estimated that in 2006 only 30% of those in need had access to treatment (UNAIDS report [39kb]).
Many reasons have been identified for the delay in scaling up programs to fight the three diseases. To name just a few:
- Many countries face challenges within their health systems that hinder the scale-up of programs, such as a lack of infrastructure, equipment or qualified personnel;
- Some countries find it difficult to coordinate their planning and define national strategies to fight the diseases;
- Civil society and the private sector are not adequately involved in defining and implementing programs;
- Structures and processes of multi and bilateral organizations, including the Global Fund and other partners, are complex and do not facilitate the scale-up of programs.
Many other factors can be named that create obstacles to the translation of needs into programs to address them. And all development partners have a role to play in improving this situation.
The Global Fund is currently reviewing the way in which it works to facilitate high-quality programs that are more ambitious and scaled-up. You can help us with your contributions over the next four weeks to better understand the obstacles to scale-up, and to identify effective ways in which the Global Fund, and other actors at the international and country level can help to overcome them.
To participate in the discussions read the questions.
Reference documents and links:
- Round 8 Guidelines [700kb]. Annex 3 to these guidelinesprovides examples on the types of activities/interventions that may be included in proposals relevant to the three diseases. These interventions include, but are not limited to, community systems strengthening initiatives to support increased quality and coverage of services to key affected populations. It also includes information on the 'six WHO building blocks' for health systems strengthening (which may be relevant to program level interventions [in s.4.5.] or HSS cross-cutting interventions [in s.4B.] of the Proposal Form).
- FAQ Round 8 [300kb], questions 63 to 66 on HSS.
- Health System Strengthening:
WHO portal
WHO HSS webpage
WHO HSS webpage on Global Fund R8 support
- Aidspan White Paper Scaling Up to Meet the Need [387kb]: Overcoming barriers to the development of bold Global Fund-financed programs - 21 April 2008.